8/26/12

Change and Survival

I have
been reading your newsletters with interest and my employees are pushing me to
“make change.”But we are a 15 year old
manufacturing company and we gross about 8 ½ million, year in and year out and
we are profitable.Why would I want to
consider making changes?
L.M.., a CEO in Kansas City, MO

First off
if your revenues have been the same year in and year out, your growth is not
only flat but most analysis would agree that you are going backwards by not
going forward!Allow me to share a true
story with you about the Golden Eagle and maybe this will help make some sense
of “why change.”

The Eagle
has the longest life span of its species.It can live up to 70 Years

But to
reach this age, the eagle must make several very hard decisions.

In its 40’s
its long and flexible talons can no longer grab prey which serves as food.

It’s long
and sharp beak becomes bent and difficult to use.

Its’
old-aged and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, become stuck to its’
chest and make it difficult to fly.

Then, the
eagle is left with only two options:DIE
or go through a painful process of CHANGE which lasts 150 DAYS!

The
process requires that the eagle fly to a mountain top and sit on its nest.

There the
eagle knocks its beak against a rock until it plucks it out.

After
plucking out its beak, the eagle will wait for a new beak to grow back and then
it will pluck out its talons.

When its
new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking its old-aged feathers.

And after FIVE
PAINFUL AND UNCERTAIN MONTHS, the eagle takes its’ famous flight of REBIRTH and
lives for 30 MORE YEARS!

Why is
changed needed you ask?

Many
times, in order to survive we have to start a change process.

We
sometimes need to get rid of old memories, habits and other past traditions.

Only freed
from past burdens, can we take advantage of the present!

Rebirthing
or reinventing yourself and your organization has never arrived at a more
critical time.

The Eagle
is a wise, powerful and magnificent bird of prey.Truly an imposing force to be dealt with in
the wild.

Perhaps a
lesson from the Eagle is a great lesson to be learned about change in 2008!What option would you choose?

I get many
Emails every week when one of our readers truly identifies with the
message.You are welcome to utilize our newsletter
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address. If you’d like me to address an
issue or question, please Email me at George@ClientGrowthConsultants.com
.